A GAME AT CHESS.
Of A Game at Chess I have seen three different editions, all 4to, n. d. To two of them, abounding in the grossest errors, is prefixed the engraved title-page, of which a fac-simile is given in the present work. The other edition, which is comparatively very correct, and which I have therefore made the basis of my text (designating it in the notes as Quarto C.), has also an engraved title-page, but less curious and containing fewer figures than that above mentioned.[506]
Mr. J. P. Collier possesses a letter-press title-page of the play, “Printed 1625,” belonging to some edition of which, I believe, no copies are known to exist.
A MS. of A Game at Chess, dated 1624, is in the British Museum (Lansdown, 690); and another, imperfect, in the library at Bridgewater House: I have collated both for the present edition.
This allegorical and political drama was brought on the stage in 1624; and its production forms a memorable incident in the author’s life: see Account of Middleton and his Writings.
Two of the most important characters in the play are the Black-Knight, that is, Gondonmar the Spanish ambassador, and the Fat Bishop, that is, Antonio de Dominis. The story of the latter is thus concisely related by Hume: “The famous Antonio di Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, no despicable philosopher, came likewise into England [in 1616], and afforded great triumph to the nation by their gaining so considerable a proselyte from the papists. But the mortification followed soon after. For the Archbishop, though advanced to some ecclesiastical preferments, received not encouragement sufficient to satisfy his ambition, and he made his escape into Italy [in 1622], where soon after he died in confinement.” Hist. of England, vol. vi. p. 136, ed. 1763. Such particulars concerning Antonio as were necessary for the illustration of the text will be found in my notes. That he was a man of a restless spirit, vain, ambitious, and avaricious, is no more to be doubted than that his talents and acquirements were of a superior order.
The White King and the Black King represent, I presume, the respective monarchs of England and Spain (see Secretary Conway’s letter in Account of Middleton and his Writings); and the White Queen’s Pawn seems intended to stand for the Church of England.
THE PICTURE PLAINLY EXPLAINED AFTER THE
MANNER OF THE CHESS-PLAY.
A Game at Chess is here display’d,
Between the Black and White House made,
Wherein crown-thirsting policy
For the Black House, by fallacy,
To the White Knight check often gives,
And to some straits him thereby drives;
The Fat Black Bishop helps also,
With faithless heart, to give the blow:
Yet, maugre all their craft, at length
The White Knight, with wit-wondrous strength
And circumspective prudency,
Gives check-mate by discovery
To the Black Knight: and so at last,
The Game thus won, the Black House cast
Into the Bag, and therein shut,
Find all their plumes and cocks-combs cut.
Plain dealing thus, by wisdom’s guide,
Defeats the cheats of craft and pride.
PROLOGUE.
What of the game call’d Chess-play can be made
To make a stage-play, shall this day be play’d:
First, you shall see the men in order set,
States[507] and their Pawns, when both the sides are met,
The Houses well distinguish’d; in the game
Some men entrapt and taken to their shame,
Rewarded by their play; and, in the close,
You shall see check-mate given to virtue’s foes:
But the fair’st jewel that our hopes can deck,
Is so to play our game t' avoid your check.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
| White King. | Black King. | |
| White Knight. | Black Knight. | |
| White Duke. | Black Duke. | |
| White Bishop. | Black Bishop. | |
| Pawns. | Pawns. | |
| Fat Bishop. | ||
| His Pawn. | ||
| White Queen. | Black Queen. | |
| Her Pawn. | Her Pawn. |
IN THE INDUCTION.
Ignatius Loyola.
Error.
A GAME AT CHESS.
INDUCTION.
Error discovered asleep: enter Ignatius Loyola.
That I can neither see the politic face,
Nor with my refin’d nostrils taste[509] the footsteps
Of any my disciples, sons and heirs
As well of my designs as institution?
I thought they had spread over the world by this time,
Cover’d the earth’s face, and made dark the land,
Like the Egyptian grasshoppers.
Here’s too much light appears, shot from the eyes
Of Truth and Goodness never yet deflower’d:
Sure they were never here; then is their monarchy
Unperfect yet; a just reward, I see,
For their ingratitude so long to me,
Their father and their founder.
’Tis not five years since I was sainted by ’em:
Where slept mine honour all the time before?
Could they be so forgetful to canonize
Their prosperous institutor? when they had sainted me,
They found no room in all their calendar
To place my name, that should have remov’d princes,
Pull’d the most eminent prelates by the roots up
For my dear coming, to make way for me;
Let every petty martyr and saint homily,
And but for the bissextile or leap-year,
And that’s but one in three. I fall by chance
Into the nine-and-twentieth day of February;
There were no room else for me: see their love,
Their conscience too, to thrust me a lame soldier[519]
Into leap-year! My Wrath’s up, and, methinks,
I could with the first syllable of my name
Blow up their colleges.—Up, Error, wake!
Father of supererogation, rise!
It is Ignatius calls thee, Loyola.
Error. What have you done? O, I could sleep in ignorance
Immortally, the slumber is so pleasing!
I saw the bravest setting for a game now
That ever mine eye fix’d on.
Ign. What game, prithee?
Error. The noblest game of all, a game at chess,
Betwixt our side and the White House; the men set
In their just order, ready to go to’t.
Ign. Were any of my sons plac’d for the game?
Error. Yes, and a daughter too; a secular daughter
That plays the Black Queen’s Pawn, he the Black Bishop’s.
Let it appear in this!
Error. ’Tis but a dream,
A vision, you must think.
Ign. I care not what,
So I behold[521] the children of my cunning,
And see what rank they keep.
Error. You have your wish:
Music: enter severally, in order of the game, the White and Black Houses.
Behold, there’s the full number of the game,
Kings and their Pawns, Queens, Bishops, Knights, and Dukes.
Ign. Dukes? they’re call’d Rooks by some.
Error. Corruptedly;
The keeper of the forts, in whom both Kings
Repose much confidence; and for their trust-sake,
Courage, and worth, do well deserve those titles.
Nor worthy of the name of my disciples:
If I had stood so nigh, I would have cut
That Bishop’s throat but I'd have had his place,
And told the Queen a love-tale in her ear
Would make her best pulse dance: there’s no elixir
Of brain or spirit amongst ’em.
Error. Why, would you have them play against themselves?
That’s quite against the rule of game, Ignatius.
Ign. Pish, I would rule myself, not observe rule.
Error. Why, then, you’d play a game all by yourself.
Ign. I would do any thing to rule alone:
’Tis rare to have the world reign’d in by one.[527]
Error. See ’em anon, and mark ’em in their play;
Observe, as in a dance, they glide away. [Exeunt the two Houses.
Ign. O, with what longings will this breast be tost,
Until I see this great game won and lost! [Exeunt.
ACT I. SCENE I.
Field between the two Houses.
Enter severally White Queen’s Pawn and Black Queen’s Pawn.
B. Q. Pawn. I ne’er see that face but my pity rises;
When I behold so clear a masterpiece
Of heaven’s art wrought out of dust and ashes,
And at next thought to give her lost eternally,
In being not ours, but the daughter of heresy,
My soul bleeds at mine eyes.
W. Q. Pawn. Where should truth speak,
If not in such a sorrow? they’re tears plainly:
Beshrew me, if she weep[528] not heartily!
What is my peace to her to take such pains in’t?
If I wander to loss, and with broad eyes
Yet miss the path she can run blindfold in
Through often exercise, why should my oversight,
Though in the best game that e’er Christian lost,
Raise the least spring of pity in her eyes?
’Tis doubtless a great charity; and no virtue
Could win me surer.
B. Q. Pawn. Blessed things prevail with’t!
If ever goodness made a gracious promise,
It is in yonder look: what little pains
Would build a fort for virtue to all memory
In that sweet creature, were the ground-work firmer![529]
W. Q. Pawn. It hath been all my glory to be firm
In what I have profess’d.
B. Q. Pawn. That is the enemy
That steals your strength away, and fights against you,
Disarms[530] your soul even in the heat of battle;
Your firmness that way makes you more infirm
For the right Christian conflict. There I spied
A zealous primitive sparkle but now flew
From your devoted eye,
Able to blow up all the[531] heresies
That ever sate in council with your spirit.
And here comes he whose sanctimonious breath
Can[532] make that spark a flame: list to him, virgin,
At whose first entrance princes will fall prostrate;
Women are weaker vessels.
Enter Black Bishop’s Pawn.
W. Q. Pawn. By my penitence,
A comely presentation, and the habit
To admiration reverend!
B. Q. Pawn. But the heart, lady, so meek,
That as you see good Charity pictur’d still
With young ones in her arms, so will he cherish
All his young, tractable, sweet, obedient daughters
Even in his bosom, in his own dear bosom.
I am myself a secular Jesuitess,[533]
As many ladies are of worth[534] and greatness:
A second sort are Jesuits in voto,
Giving their vow unto the[535] Father General,
That’s the Black Bishop of our House, whose Pawn
This gentleman now stands for, to receive
The college-habit at his holy pleasure.
W. Q. Pawn. But how are those in voto employ’d, lady,
Till they receive the habit?
B. Q. Pawn. They’re not idle;
He finds them all true labourers in the work
Of th' universal monarchy, which he
And his disciples principally aim at:
Those are maintain’d in many courts and palaces,
And are induc’d by[536] noble personages
Into great princes' services, and prove
Some councillors of state, some secretaries;
All serving in notes of intelligence—
As parish-clerks their mortuary-bills—
To the Father General: so are designs
Oft-times prevented, and important[537] secrets
Of states discover’d, yet no author found,
But they suspected oft that are most sound.
This mystery is too deep yet for your entrance;
And I offend to set your zeal so back:
Check’d by obedience with desire to hasten
Your progress to perfection, I commit you
To the great worker’s hands; to whose grave worth
I fit my reverence, as to you my wishes.
[Exit.
B. B. Pawn. Let me contemplate,
With holy wonder season my access,
And, by degrees, approach the sanctuary
Of unmatch’d beauty, set in grace and goodness.
Amongst the daughters of men I have not found
A more Catholical aspèct: that eye
Doth promise single life and meek obedience;
Upon those lips, the sweet fresh buds of youth,
The holy dew of prayer lies, like pearl
Dropt from the opening eyelids of the morn[540]
Upon the bashful rose. How beauteously
A gentle fast, not rigorously impos’d
Would look upon that cheek! and how delightfully
The courteous physic of a tender penance,
Whose utmost cruelty should not exceed
The first fear of a bride, to beat down frailty,
Would work to sound health your long-fester’d judgment,
And make your merit, which, through erring ignorance,
Appears but spotted righteousness to me,
Far clearer than the innocence of infants!
W. Q. Pawn. To that good work I bow, and will become
Obedience' humblest daughter, since I find
Th' assistance of a sacred strength to aid me:
The labour is as easy to serve virtue
The right way, since ’tis she I ever serv’d
In my desire, though I transgress’d in judgment.
B. B. Pawn. That’s easily absolv’d amongst the rest:
You shall not find the virtue that you serve now
A sharp and cruel mistress; her ear’s open
To all your supplications; you may boldly
And safely let in the most secret sin
Into her knowledge, which, like vanish’d man,
Never returns into the world again;
Fate locks not up more trulier.
W. Q. Pawn. To the guilty
That may appear some benefit.
B. B. Pawn. Who’s so innocent
That never stands in need on’t in some kind?
If every thought were blabb’d that’s so confest,
The very air we breathe would be unblest.—
Now to the work indeed, which is to catch
Her inclination; that’s the special use
We make of all our practice in all kingdoms;
For by discovering[541] their most secret frailties,
Things which, once ours, they must not hide from us
(That’s the first article in the creed we teach ’em),
Finding to what point their blood most inclines,
Know best to apt them then to our designs. [Aside.
Daughter, the sooner you disperse your errors,
The sooner you make haste to your recovery:
You must part with ’em; to be nice or modest
Towards this good action, is to imitate
The bashfulness of one conceals an ulcer,
For the uncomely parts that[542] tumour vexes,
Till’t be past cure. Resolve you thus far, lady;
The privat’st thought that runs to hide itself
In the most secret corner of your heart now,
Must be of my acquaintance, so familiarly
Never she-friend of your night-counsels[543] nearer.
W. Q. Pawn. I stand not much in fear of any action
Guilty of that black time, most noble holiness.
I must confess, as in a sacred temple
Throng’d with an auditory, some come rather
To feed on human object than to taste
Of angels' food;
So in the congregation of quick thoughts,
Which are more infinite than such assemblies,
I cannot with truth’s safety speak for all:
Some have been wanderers, some fond,[544] some sinful,
But those found ever but poor entertainment,
They had small encouragement to come again.
The single life, which strongly I profess now,
Heaven pardon me! I was about to part from.
B. B. Pawn. Then you have pass’d through love?
W. Q. Pawn. But left no stain
In all my passage, sir, no print of wrong
For the most chaste maid that may trace my footsteps.
B. B. Pawn. How came you off so clear?
W. Q. Pawn. I was discharg’d
By an inhuman accident, which modesty
Forbids me to put any language to.
B. B. Pawn. How you forget yourself! all actions
Clad[545] in their proper language, though most sordid,
My ear is bound by duty to let in
And lock up everlastingly. Shall I help you?
He was not found to answer his creation:
A vestal virgin in a slip of grace
Could not deliver man’s loss modestlier:
’Twas the White Bishop’s Pawn.
W. Q. Pawn. The same, blest sir.
B. B. Pawn. An heretic well pickled.
W. Q. Pawn. By base treachery,
And violence prepar’d by his competitor,[546]
The Black Knight’s Pawn, whom I shall ever hate for’t.
B. B. Pawn. ’Twas of revenges the unmanliest way
That ever rival took; a villany
That, for your sake, I'll ne’er absolve him of.
W. Q. Pawn. I wish it not so heavy.
B. B. Pawn. He must feel it:
I never yet gave absolution
To any crime of that unmanning nature.
It seems then you refus’d him for defect;
Therein you stand not pure from the desire
That other women have in ends of marriage:
Pardon my boldness, if I sift your goodness
To the last grain.
W. Q. Pawn. I reverence your pains, sir,
And must acknowledge custom to enjoy
What other women challenge and possess
More rul’d me than desire; for my desires
Dwell all in ignorance, and I'll never wish
To know that fond[547] way may redeem ’em thence.
B. B. Pawn. I never was so taken; beset doubly
Now with her judgment: what a strength it puts forth!
[Aside.
I bring work nearer to you: when you’ve seen
A masterpiece of man, compos’d by heaven
For a great prince’s favour, kingdom’s love;
So exact, envy could not find a place
To stick a blot on person or on fame;
Have you not found ambition swell your wish then,
And desire stir your blood?
W. Q. Pawn. By virtue, never!
I've only in the dignity of the creature
Admir’d the maker’s glory.
B. B. Pawn. She’s impregnable;
A second siege must not fall off so tamely:
She’s one of those must be inform’d to know
A daughter’s duty, which some take untaught:
Her modesty brings her behind-hand much;
My old means I must fly to—yes, ’tis it. [Aside.
Please you, peruse this small tract of obedience;
'Twill help you forward well. [Gives a book.
W. Q. Pawn. Sir, that’s a virtue
I've ever thought on with a special reverence.
B. B. Pawn. You will conceive by that my power, your duty.
Enter White Bishop’s Pawn.
W. Q. Pawn. The knowledge will be precious of both, sir.
W. B. Pawn. What makes yon troubler of all
Christian waters
So near that blessed spring? but that I know
Her goodness is the rock from whence it issues
Unmoveable as fate, ’twould more afflict me
Than all my sufferings for her, which so long
As she holds constant to the House she comes of,
The whiteness of the cause, the side, the quality,
Are sacrifices to her worth and virtue;
And, though confin’d in my religious joys,
Enter Black Knight’s Pawn.
B. B. Pawn. Behold, lady,
The two inhuman enemies, the Black Knight’s Pawn
And the White Bishop’s; the gelder and the gelded.
W. Q. Pawn. There’s my grief, my hate!
B. Kt.'s Pawn. What, in the Jesuit’s fingers? by this hand,
I'll give my part now for a parrot’s feather,
She never returns virtuous, ’tis impossible:
I'll undertake more wagers will be laid
Upon a usurer’s return from hell
Than upon hers from him now. Have I[549] been guilty
Of such base malice that my very conscience
Shakes at the memory of it,[550] and, when I look
To gather fruit, find nothing but the savin-tree,
Too frequent in nuns' orchards, and there planted,
By all conjecture, to destroy fruit[551] rather?
I'll be resolvèd[552] now. [Aside.]—Most noble virgin——
W. Q. Pawn. Ignoble villain! dare that unhallow’d tongue
Lay hold upon a sound so gracious?
What’s nobleness to thee, or virgin chastity?
They’re out of thy acquaintance: talk of violence
That shames creation, deeds would make night blush,
That’s company for thee. Hast thou the impudence
To court me with a leprosy upon thee
Able t' infect the walls of a great building?
B. B. Pawn. Son of offence, forbear! go, set your evil
Before your eyes; a penitential vesture
Would better become you, some shirt of hair.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. And you a three-pound smock ’stead of an alb,
Robs safe and close: I feel a sting that’s worse too.
[Aside.
White Pawn, hast so much charity to accept
A reconcilement? make thine own conditions,
For I begin to be extremely burden’d.
W. B. Pawn. No truth or peace of that Black House protested
Is to be trusted; but for hope of quittance,
And warn’d by diffidence, I may entrap him soonest.
[Aside.
I admit conference.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. It’s a nobleness
That makes confusion cleave to all my merits.
[Exeunt W. B. Pawn and B. Kt.'s Pawn.
Enter Black Knight.
B. B. Pawn [to W. Q. Pawn]. That treatise will instruct you throughly.
B. Knight. So, so!
The business of the universal monarchy
Goes forward well now! the great college-pot,
That should be always boiling with the fuel
Of all intelligences possible
Through the Christian kingdoms. Is this fellow
Our prime incendiary, and one of those
That promis’d the White Kingdom seven years since
To our Black House? put a new daughter to him,
The great[555] work stands; he minds nor monarchy
Nor hierarchy, diviner[556] principality.
I have bragg’d less,
But have[557] done more than all the conclave on ’em,
Take their assistant fathers in all parts,
Yea, and their Father General in to boot;
And what I've done,[558] I've done facetiously,
With pleasant subtlety and bewitching courtship,
Abus’d all my believers with delight,—
They took a comfort to be cozen’d by me:
To many a soul I've let in mortal poison,
Whose cheeks have crack’d with laughter to receive it;
I could so roll my pills in sugar’d syllables,
And strew such kindly mirth o’er all my mischief,
They took their bane in way of recreation,
As pleasure steals corruption into youth.
He spies me now: I must uphold his reverence,
Especially in public, though I know
Priapus, guardian of the cherry-gardens,
Bacchus' and Venus' chit, is not more vicious.
[Aside.
B. B. Pawn. Blessings' accumulation keep with you, sir!
B. Knight. Honour’s dissimulation be your due, sir!
W. Q. Pawn. How deep in duty his observance plunges!
His charge must needs be reverend. [Aside.
B. B. Pawn. I am confessor
To this Black Knight too; you see devotion’s fruitful,
Sh’ath many sons and daughters.
B. Knight. I do this the more
T' amaze our adversaries to behold
And to beget a sound opinion
Of holiness in them and zeal in us,